On the Hunt

We pick up with our intrepid travelers attempting to make up time on an already difficult journey. Being an hour behind schedule wouldn’t be so bad, if everything else would cooperate…which it did not. After coming to a mostly collapsed and dilapidated bridge, Spec managed to deftly and smoothly make his way across, attaching a rope for the other party members. Using all of the resources they had available to them, the squeezed their way past, including a memorable moment where a deconstructed and packed away skeletal dog managed to help our necromancer friend slingshot his way across the chasm.

The barbarian Tar’Nok used his incredible tracking skills to pick out the best, most efficient, and fastest route back to the Academy. This led to the heroes traversing along the treetops in acrobatic fashion, using the canopy as a makeshift road, then bypassing a large hunting trap – easily large enough to catch a wyvern – by simply skirting the edge. Once back on the road, the heroic men seemed to catch their breath, determined to make it back on time.

Along the way, our weary adventurers managed to send off a decoy to distract, drop some coin to delay and spring past a group of highwaymen who were set on causing trouble. Not easily distracted, the group devised a plan, set it into action and managed to avoid trouble by outrunning the bandits. Again, there were obstacles in their path but somehow their hijinks allowed them to work together, escaping danger and breezing past this trouble.

When the rains came, they came in force. Drenched, tired, beat up, and generally exhausted our group stumbled upon a shack that was little more than a barrier for rain to drip though. Upon getting close to the building, several more bandits sprang out and attempted to corral the heroes. Rather than delay their arrival any further, the party sprinted off, making a bee-line for the academy. With Tar’Nok in the lead picking out the footholds, Spec’s flying dagger clearing brush, Alder’s skeletal “dog” sprinting ahead to keep any doors open, and Royce signaling the city guard as they approached in a driving rain the party managed to make it back to the Academy just in time.

Three other groups had set out, two others had returned, but apparently only one had accomplished their goal. After some eloquently put words, Lord Royce managed to secure graduation for the stoic elves that had returned with an artifact….firmly implanted in the torso of one of their members. While not a traditional success, this group managed to graduate and our heroes may have found themselves some allies in the process. Another ragtag group of adventurers managed to retrieve their artifact as well, apparently graduating just before our group had the privilege of congratulating them.

After a day of celebrating, our heroes were tasked with finding out more information about the bandit groups that are roaming the roads and countryside, terrorizing the people and robbing merchants of their goods. With some social know-how and some intuitive detective work, they arrived at a hideout and proceeded to kick in the door – demanding surrender. Tar’nok was surprised that his idea did not work, but managed to wield his greatsword to amazing use, slaying many a foe in the battles that commenced. Spec sliced and diced his way in a gruesome dance of death, cutting open and stabbing through many enemies as the group approached the staircase leading to the lower level(s). While uncomfortable for much of the party (i.e. everyone), Alder’s powers over life and death were incredibly effective, and therefore useful to the group. Lord Royce stood his ground, calling out commands and shouting tips to the rest of the party, seemingly directing arrows mid-flight, redirecting maces and swords to just miss the heroes and calling down destruction when the enemies were hit.

Up the stairs came two devilishly powerful enemies, both wielding weapons and wreaking havoc on the group. After trading blows, and the fight escalating to the breaking point one final blow was dealt, with Spec having the perfect angle to see the horrifying and somewhat beautiful death dealt by Tar’Nok to the blade wielder. With every battle seemingly a life and death struggle, no one expected anything easy, but this agreement to help the king on this mission seems likely to cost the party a few pints of blood…at least.

We will pick up next time with the men at arms searching the hideout, interrogating the two captured enemies, and then deciding their next course of action.

Starting Out...and Not Dying

Our proud heroes began their adventure with quite a flair for the dramatic. Each of them survived some form of struggle while in the academy, and recounting tales of their misadventures helped pass the time on the road.

While attempting to help what they thought were some weary and downtrodden merchants, the five heroes were attacked by bandits in search of quick coin. After a few minor scrapes and bruises, the dispatched of the bandits and discarded the scraps, eager to get to their mission and accomplish their goal. Upon arriving at the outskirts of Santa Rosa, the friends met with a merchant who gave them directions to a faster route to their destination.

At that moment, smoke was spotted and someone was running from the village in their direction. Our heroes had a decision to make: help the village that was under attack, or hurry on their way to the Temple of Neshir because they were already running behind schedule. With only 36 hours to complete the entire mission, the travelers determined that they could not leave the villagers to die and set off quickly to dispatch whatever evildoers were attacking the town.

Upon arriving, they spotted undead hordes attacking villagers and ransacking the town. In the midst of all of this stood a towering beast called Jabby Bones and a warmage controlling the hordes of undead. Charging fearlessly into battle, Enoon threw his body in harms way to block the villagers and his companions, taking the brunt of the attacks as he valiantly blocked the path. Lordy Royce also took action, seizing the moment and doing just enough to allow his companions to hit, distract, and subdue the many enemies around. Through means of dark magic, and things unknown, Mr. Kresh took to attacking the minds and bodies of the undead, ripping them to shreds from the inside. At the same time, the wood elf Thomas drew his longbow and began raining terror down upon those who wished to cause harm, protecting the innocent with is arrows of justice. Spec jumped at the opportunity to display his skills with the short sword and dagger as he waded in, slicing and dicing his way to the warmage. After dispatching the minions, the proud heroes made quick work of the leaders of this group, wresting control of the village back.

Knowing that time was short, the weary adventurers set out again in order to get to the temple and obtain the relic they were tasked with returning. Through the forest they flew, skipping over brush and bramble, avoiding treacherous spikes and spines, helping an animal in need and even rushing through the trees during a torrential downpour, finally arriving at their destination!

With keen eyes, some of the group spotted a hired military force commonly associated with the Runa Empire. Lord Royce stepped forward to attempt to diffuse any possible hostility, and to explain their reason for being at the temple. This rapidly turned the tide in the party’s favor, as it struck fear in the hearts of the soldiers at the door knowing that the King of Roland was sending emissaries to the temple. This quickly turned to a fight and our heroes again prevailed after a valiant fight. Upon the completion of the disposal of the berzerkers raiding the temple, the party stumbled upon a Runan priest with the very relic they were sent to recover!

This sent the men into action, flying about with a new found determination. Spec pulled off a spectacular stunt, running along the temple pillars and slicing free the sword from the back of the cleric. As one would expect, this turned his attentions toward Spec in full force. While slashing wildly at Spec, it became apparent that the priest was able to raise the dead and turn a 5vs.1 into a 5vs.6 in a heartbeat. After the brave monk Enoon snuck around and smashed the priest in the face with a flying knee and Lord Royce provided some extra oomph to many of the attacks, while Alder was causing the internal combustion of the minions and Spec was hacking away at the priest, Thomas took aim with his sturdy and trusted longbow.

Time seemed to slow down as the arrow was nocked and took flight. The monk, with his last bit of energy reached out and grabbed the ankle of the Runan priest, now allowing him to dodge. Spec’s spinning blades created a distraction, now allowing any room for movement and Lord Royce stood over Enoon’s body, brandishing his greatsword and cursing a blue streak that any sailor would be proud of, causing the priest’s mind to shift back and forth. His attention not focused, the arrow from Thomas’s bow found his left eye socket, and he slumped to the ground, dead. Our heroes stood victorious, but knew that they were short on time, and even shorter on energy.

The adventure log is where you list the sessions and adventures your party has been on, but for now, we suggest doing a very light “story so far” post. Just give a brief overview of what the party has done up to this point. After each future session, create a new post detailing that night’s adventures.

One final tip: Don’t stress about making your Obsidian Portal campaign look perfect. Instead, just make it work for you and your group. If everyone is having fun, then you’re using Obsidian Portal exactly as it was designed, even if your adventure log isn’t always up to date or your characters don’t all have portrait pictures.